Legal Forum: Investigate Haaretz Writer

The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel asks the Attorney General to investigate Haaretz writer Amira Hass for incitement.

Elad Benari, 04/04/13 06:16

Amira Hass

Flash 90

The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel on Wednesday contacted Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, asking that he launch an investigation against Haaretz writer Amira Hass on suspicion of incitement.

The request was made after Hass, an Israeli radical leftist who lives in the PA city of Ramallah, wrote in a column on Wednesday, “Throwing stones is the right and the duty of anyone living under foreign rule.”

Later in the column she termed rock-throwing “a metaphor for resistance.” Hass is the official Haaretz correspondent for what the newspaper labels the "occupied territories".

Yesha Council head Avi Ro'eh and Chairman Ron Shachner have already sent a letter to the Jerusalem Police, accusing the newspaper of incitement to violence.

Attorney Hila Cohen, writing on behalf of the Legal Forum, wrote in the letter to Weinstein that Hass’s comments were serious and constitute an incitement to violence and terrorism, while encouraging murderous terrorism.

"In determining that it is the right and duty of the Palestinians, who are, as she claims, living under foreign rule, she legitimizes the violent terrorist acts, encourages them and even incites them when she calls to expand them into other areas,” wrote Cohen.

The Legal Forum said that "throwing stones at Israelis should be called by its real name - an act of terrorism. Treating it any other way may cause an escalation in the phenomenon, which is supposedly justified.”

The Forum added that Hass's words have been making waves among PA Arabs and have even been quoted on the website of the Hamas terrorist organization.

Cohen wrote in the letter that "the gravity of the remarks is reinforced when the toddler Adelle is fighting for her life in hospital as a result of stones being thrown at a car, and one day after the verdict in the murder of Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan, which stipulates that stone throwing is even more dangerous than drive-by shootings.”

"The timing of the publication of Ms. Hass’s remarks indicates true support for activities aimed at killing innocent people, and also increases the severity of such activities,” added Cohen.

Cohen concluded the letter by asking Weinstein to launch a criminal investigation, adding that "justification for such acts aimed at killing cannot be accepted in the democratic game, and she must be severely judged to the full extent of the law.”